April 2017 Existing-Home Sales

NAR released a summary of existing-home sales data showing that housing market activity this April slid 2.3 percent from last month but modestly improved 1.6 percent from last year. April’s existing-home sales reached the 5.57 million seasonally adjusted annual rate.

The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $244,800 in April, up 6.0 percent from a year ago. This marks 62nd consecutive months of year over year’s gains as prices continue to rise.

Regionally, all four regions showed growth in prices from a year ago, with the South leading all regions with an incline of 7.9 percent. The Midwest had a gain of 7.8 percent followed by the West with a gain of 6.8 percent. The Northeast had the smallest gain of 1.6 percent from April 2016.

From March, three of the four regions experienced declines in sales while the Midwest inclined 3.8 percent. The South had the biggest decline of 5.0 percent while the West had a 3.3 percent slip in sales. The Northeast had the smallest decline of 2.7 percent.

Two of the four regions showed an increase in sales from a year ago with the South leading with an incline of 3.6 percent. The West had a gain of 3.5 percent. The Northeast had a decline of 2.7 percent. The Midwest had the smallest decline of 0.7 percent. The South headed all regions in percentage of national sales at 41.3 percent while the Northeast has the smallest share at 13.1 percent.

April’s inventory figures are up 7.2 percent from last month to 1.93 million homes for sale. Inventories are down 9.0 percent from a year ago which is 23 months of year over year declines. It will take 4.2 months to move the current level of inventory at the current sales pace. Transactions are moving faster and it takes approximately 29 days for a home to go from listing to a contract in the current housing market, down from 39 days a year ago.

In April, single-family sales declined 2.4 percent and condominiums declined 1.6 percent compared to last month. Single-family home sales inclined 1.6 percent and condominium sales were up 1.6 percent compared to a year ago. Both single-family and condominiums had an increase in price with single-family up 6.1 percent at $246,100 and condominiums up 5.6 percent at $234,600 from April 2016.